Barr’s Viewpoint: Economic development is like redeeming pop bottles

One of my son Chase’s favorite TV shows is American Pickers on which the hosts scour old barns and junkyards for valuable antiques and artifacts. Chase loves old things, too, and his bedroom bookshelf is lined with remnants from the past – a kerosene lantern, an antique knife and rows of old pop bottles.

I picked up one of Chase’s bottles and examined it. On the bottom of that bottle, I discovered a statement of profound significance to economic development and life itself: No Deposit, No Return. What you get out of something is in direct proportion to what you put into it. Throughout the past year, we have been making deposits into our community through our economic development program.

With the assistance of our partners at the city, a $1.25 million Economic Development Association grant will spur the construction of a road through Sioux Empire Development Park VIII, east of Interstate 229 across from Sanford Research. That will make the second phase of Park VIII a reality, opening up opportunities for the growth of new and existing industries.

This past year, national publications turned their attention to Sioux Falls with a flood of articles and features, ranging from Forbes to American Public Media’s Marketplace. More than 50 articles or features led to 750 million impressions that are worth $2.7 million.

We continued our outreach to companies and individuals hired by large corporations to help them find the ideal location for new facilities. In 2013, we visited consultants in New Jersey, New York and Texas, and also brought them to us with site selection experts from Toronto, Colorado and Nebraska. That effort is paying off with projects such as Glanbia Nutritionals’ new facility in Park VII, which was represented by Site Selection Group of Dallas.

Our phone solicitation to corporate executives also continued. Since the inception of the program in 2010, almost 16,000 phone calls have been placed to reach more than 1,000 decision-makers, generating 159 conference calls and 66 face-to-face meetings. In 2013, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation had 30 active prospects who visited Sioux Falls.

Through Forward Sioux Falls, we’re participating in Tech Ed Works, an effort to recruit students into technical education and fast track them into the workforce. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, we visited more than 40 local companies to better understand their needs or assist with expansions.

No Deposit, No Return. Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation are making the deposits – the investments – into our community that will continue to lead to significant returns.

Barr is president of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation

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